


You're a wizard, Ox

by PalmettoFoxDen



Category: Green Creek Series - T.J. Klune
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 08:39:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14891270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PalmettoFoxDen/pseuds/PalmettoFoxDen
Summary: Ox's dad runs off after Gordo hand delivers Ox's letter to Hogwarts, so Ox has to find somewhere to stay for the rest of the summer.





	You're a wizard, Ox

It had been three weeks since Oxnard Matheson found out he was a wizard. It had been three weeks since Gordo Livingstone had shown up at his house and hand delivered an envelope after Ox’s father burned every last one that had come before it.

Ox had laughed when Gordo had told him, “You're a wizard, Ox.”

He had never imagined that Gordo might be serious, even if his father was cowering in fear from him. Sure, weird things happened to Ox sometimes, but magic wasn’t real and Ox couldn’t be a witch. Could he?

After Gordo left, Ox had read the letter over and over and over again. That time, his father had been too afraid to try to take it away from him. He had been afraid of Ox and afraid of Gordo. Apparently, he believed in magic and he believed Gordo’s threats if he didn’t treat Ox right.

Curtis Matheson walked on eggshells around Ox for two days, then he disappeared altogether and Ox was all on his own.

Ox had been getting by on his own as the man of the house pretty successfully so far since it was summer so nobody really noticed that he was a kid living on his own. He had no idea what he was going to do when it came time for school again. He had no idea how to get to Hogwarts or what he’d need and there was no way he had enough money to survive on his own.

Then, one day, Gordo knocked on his door again.

Ox didn’t have much, but he invited Gordo in and tried to be hospitable anyway. He found some old tea that had been his mother’s (and was questionably still good) and offered to make some for Gordo. Gordo just frowned at him.

“How has your dad been treating you since I was here last?” Gordo asked.

Ox was silent.

Gordo hadn’t said that he’d wanted any tea, but Ox wanted a distraction so he grabbed the kettle off of one of the shelves.

“Ox,” Gordo said with an edge to his voice. “What did he do?”

“Nothing,” Ox said. He tried to keep his voice guarded as he admitted, “He didn’t do anything. He just left.”

“So you’re living here by yourself?” Gordo asked.

“I’m alright,” Ox said and he thought it was true, at least for now.

He was embarrassed that Gordo knew his daddy didn’t want him and that he had to look after himself now, but he tried to downplay it.

“No, you’re not,” Gordo told him. “You can’t stay here by yourself. You’re just a kid.”

Ox was afraid that Gordo was going to report him to child services. He was afraid that he was going to get put in some foster home where he wouldn’t be allowed to go to Hogwarts. He was afraid that his daddy was going to change his mind and come back and he wouldn’t be there anymore.

“You can’t stay here by yourself for the rest of the summer,” Gordo insisted. “I’ll send out an owl to let Hughes know what’s going on. For now, I’m staying here with you until we can figure out something better for you.”

Ox wasn’t sure who Hughes was, but he didn’t bother to ask. He was still in awe that Gordo seemed to care about his wellbeing. Ox was so awestruck by Gordo caring about him that he didn’t even stop to think how strange it was that Gordo was going to send a message by owl.

* * *

Gordo had been gone for almost a week when a second owl arrived at the Bennett house.

Joe was curious about what Gordo’s letter said, but his dad and Mark took it with them into Thomas’s office. They stayed inside for a long time before they finally came out and Thomas called a family meeting.

Joe sat silently as they explained that Gordo was going to be bringing home the kid that he had been looking after for the past week, since his higher ups thought of the kid like a problem and Gordo wanted to make sure that he got a good home, especially after the family situation he had grown up in. Gordo was offended that Ox had grown up not knowing he was a wizard and that his father had treated him so poorly and then abandoned him.

As Carter asked questions about Ox, which no one was qualified to answer from the letter Gordo had sent, Joe leaned forward in his seat. He was excited to have another kid around, especially one his age. He was excited that he wouldn’t have to be new at Hogwarts by himself.

Carter and Kelly had been going to Hogwarts for years and Joe was both bitter that he had to stay at home without them each year and terrified of actually getting to go this year. Carter had told a lot of stories about Hogwarts that made Joe nervous to go there. Sure, he would be with his brothers, but he would also potentially be separated from them and he wouldn’t have any classes with them. He was scared of the idea of being away from his family again and of something going wrong and Carter’s stories didn’t help. Kelly was even less helpful when he tried to reassure him with, “It’s fine. Almost no one dies on school grounds anymore.”

Joe tried not to let it show, but he was excited for Ox to come live with them. He hoped he would be his friend. Joe didn’t have any of those and he was afraid he wouldn’t have any at Hogwarts either.

* * *

 When it was time to leave his house behind to move in with Gordo and the rest of his wizard family, Ox hesitated and Gordo stopped in the doorway.

"Are you ready?" Gordo asked. "I know it can be hard leaving somewhere. I can give you a minute."

"No," Ox said. "It's not that."

He was embarrassed to admit what the problem really was. He didn't want Gordo to know that he was stalling because Gordo seemed nice, but he was afraid that the rest of his family wouldn't like him and that he wouldn't fit in at Hogwarts and that he would be just as lonely there as he was at home.

"Then what is it?" Gordo asked.

Ox said nothing and looked down at his feet. Gordo was helping him and had been nothing but nice to him for reasons he didn't understand. He didn't want to ruin that. He didn't want to complain. He didn't want to annoy Gordo like he used to annoy his daddy.

Gordo stepped away from the door now and walked back into the room.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Ox said nothing at first, but Gordo crouched down and waited.

Finally, Ox asked, "What's Hogwarts like?"

"It's like a school," Gordo told him. "Just with magic."

Ox kept staring at his feet as he admitted, "I didn't have any friends at my old school. What if I don't have any there either? I'm just going to be the dumb kid that didn't know he was a wizard. Who's going to want to be friends with someone like that? I'm just going to be a no friends freak again."

"I want to be friends with someone like that," Gordo told him. "You're not a no friends freak. We're friends. Aren't we?"

Ox looked up and met Gordo's eyes now. Gordo didn't look like he was joking. He looked like he really thought they were friends and Ox couldn't believe it.

"I told you I'm taking you home with me and my family, right?" Gordo asked.

Ox nodded his head.

"They're my husband's family really,” Gordo said. “But we’ve got three nephews. Two of them already go to Hogwarts and the third is starting this year. I bet they'll want to be your friends too."

Ox looked down at his feet again. He wasn't so sure they would like him, but he didn't want to tell Gordo that when Gordo was being so nice to him.

"Hey, even if they don't, we’re still friends,” Gordo told him. "Okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

Joe sat by the window all morning, waiting for Gordo to arrive with Ox. Carter and Kelly tried to distract him and get him to come play with them in the backyard, but Joe wasn't interested. He didn't want to miss it when Ox arrived. He wanted Ox to be his friend. If he waited until Carter and Kelly had already met him, Joe doubted that Ox would want to play with him at all.

He'd been sitting there for hours and was aware that his whole family was watching him. Sometimes, Mark came and sat with him, waiting for Gordo to come home. But after a while, the waiting became too much and Mark would leave again to go find something to distract himself with.

Joe was alone when Gordo finally showed up with a boy who was supposed to be Joe's age but looked taller and older. Joe didn't hesitate at the sight of them at the edge of the front yard, he just got up and ran out the door to greet them.

Ox was staring down at his feet as he walked through the grass at Gordo's side, with Gordo's hand on his back between his shoulders, gently guiding him.

He was still looking down at his feet when Joe reached him, so Joe nearly knocked him over in his excitement. He had to catch himself by grabbing Ox or else they both would have been on the ground. Joe though grabbing onto Ox’s shirt for balance was already awkward enough, so he figured he may as well go all in and show how much he wanted to be his friend from the start.

Ox looked surprised as Joe hugged his middle, but after a moment he hugged back and patted Joe on the back a few times.

"Uhhh... Hi," Ox said when Joe finally let go of him but didn't take more than a half step back. "I'm Ox."

"I know," Joe said. "My dad told me. I’ve been waiting for you all morning! Dad says you're starting at Hogwarts next year. So am I. Maybe we'll have classes together. But definitely we can sit on the train together. Carter says he and Kelly won't sit with me on the train, but I think he's just joking to try to scare me. He's always telling me stories about trolls breaking into the school and evil teachers and three-headed dogs so I don’t think they’d let me sit by myself on the train. Carter and Kelly are my brothers. Oh and I'm Joe. I think we should be friends."

Joe stopped talking for long enough to take a breath and glanced over at his uncle.

Gordo was apparently so surprised by how much Joe was talking that he just stood there staring at him, instead of going to greet Mark after they had spent a whole week apart.

Ox laughed and agreed, "Okay, Joe. I’d like that.”

"You can be friends with Carter and Kelly too if you want,” Joe told him. "Carter and Kelly get all the friends, but this time you're my friend first. Right?"

Ox smiled and agreed, "Alright."

* * *

Carter and Kelly did want to be Ox’s friends after all too. Ox and the three Bennett brothers spent a lot of their summer playing outside in the sun together and Ox was glad to have friends to spend his days with.

Gordo's whole family was so nice. They were like one of the perfect families Ox used to see on TV, the ones he had always secretly wished he could be a part of, and they took him in as if he had always been one of them. Ox loved them all, but he had a special place in his heart for Gordo and for Joe, his first two friends.

One day, when summer was almost over, Ox got up the nerve to talk to Joe about school before they went shopping for the supplies he and Joe were going to need to start their school year at Hogwarts.

"Hey, Joe," Ox said. "Are you nervous to go to Hogwarts?"

They were walking outside through Elizabeth's garden and Joe came to a stop and turned to look at him.

"Not anymore," he said. "I used to be, but now I have you. I hope we end up in the same house so that we can sit together and have classes together and be roommates. How about you, Ox? Are you worried about going?"

Ox thought about it for a moment. He still knew less about magic then he should, but Gordo and Thomas had been helping him and the Bennett brothers had been telling him all about Hogwarts and the world of wizardry. He knew that, even if he was confused, he'd have Joe by his side to answer his questions and both of them would have Carter and Kelly to look out for them if anything went wrong. Hogwarts wasn't like anywhere Ox had been before, but neither was the Bennett house and it had turned out to be a better place with better people than he ever thought to hope for.

"Not really," Ox said honestly. "We'll be okay as long as we have each other, right?"

Joe beamed back at him. "Right."


End file.
